Microsoft, Apple, Kony On the Move

— March 08, 2014

What happened last week in mobility? Here are some of the industry moves you might have missed.

Microsoft
New CEO Satya Nadella made leadership changes, announced in a memo to the organization and public. He wrote, "Having the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) set both pace and example means a lot to me. I have discussed this point in various forms with the SLT and have asked for their ‘all in’ commitment as we embark on the next chapter for the company. We need to drive clarity, alignment and intensity across all our work. With that as a backdrop, I want to share a set of changes to the leadership team.”

Tony Bates, EVP of business development evangelism will be leaving along with Tami Reller, EVP of marketing. Bates came to the company via the Skype acquisition, where he was CEO of Skype. Eric Rudder will serve as interim leader responsible for Business Development and Evangelism, while continuing in his current role.

Reller will support the new leader through his transition into his new role. She will then take time off and pursue other interests outside the company. “Tami’s contributions to Microsoft are significant; she’s held multiple CFO jobs across the company, for Microsoft Dynamics, the Product and Services Division and Windows. She led marketing, finance and business strategy for Windows including Surface and partner devices. Over the past eight months, she’s led the Marketing Group, bringing many distinct teams together to form a cohesive organization,” according to Nadella.

He named “a single leader” to run marketing - Chris Capossela will take on the role of EVP and Chief Marketing Officer. “Chris brings a wealth of experience to this need, serving in senior leadership roles across the marketing function for many years. He is a strong organizational leader, and the work he has done with retailers, operators and OEMs on a global basis gives him real visibility and insight into how consumers are buying and using our products. He has been at the center of our devices and services transformation in SMSG as the worldwide leader of the Consumer Channels Group (CCG), starting with the formation and building of CCG, to overseeing the launch of numerous consumer products from Windows 8/8.1, Surface and Xbox One. Chris will be promoted to EVP and join the SLT as a part of his new role and will remain as acting lead for CCG until his replacement is named.”

This change in marketing structure provides an opportunity for Mark Penn to play a new leadership role at the company as EVP, Chief Strategy Officer.

Apple
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s senior vice president and CFO, will retire at the end of September. Luca Maestri, Apple’s vice president of Finance and corporate controller, will succeed Oppenheimer as CFO reporting to Apple CEO, Tim Cook. He will transition the CFO role to Maestri in June and the balance of his responsibilities over the remaining time allowing for a professional and seamless transition.

“Peter has served as our CFO for the past decade as Apple’s annual revenue grew from $8 billion to $171 billion and our global footprint expanded dramatically. His guidance, leadership and expertise have been instrumental to Apple’s success, not only as our CFO but also in many areas beyond finance, as he frequently took on additional activities to assist across the company. His contributions and integrity as our CFO create a new benchmark for public company CFOs,” said Tim Cook, Apple CEO. “Peter is also a dear friend I always knew I could count on. Although I am sad to see him leave, I am happy he is taking time for himself and his family. As all of us who know him would have expected, he has created a professional succession plan to ensure Apple doesn’t miss a beat.”

“Luca has over 25 years of global experience in senior financial management, including roles as a public company CFO, and I am confident he will be a great CFO at Apple,” added Tim. “When we were recruiting for a corporate controller, we met Luca and knew he would become Peter’s successor. His contributions to Apple have already been significant in his time with us and he has quickly gained respect from his colleagues throughout the company.”

“I love Apple and the people I have had the privilege to work with and after 18 years here, it is time for me to take time for myself and my family,” said Oppenheimer. “For quite some time, I have wanted to live on the central coast of California and get more involved at Cal Poly, my alma mater; spend more time with my wife and sons; travel to interesting parts of the world; and something I have wanted to do for years— finish the requirements for my pilot’s license.”

As CFO, he oversees the controller, treasury, investor relations, tax, information systems, internal audit and facilities functions. He started with Apple in 1996 as controller for the Americas, and in 1997 was promoted to vice president and Worldwide Sales controller and then promoted to corporate controller prior to being named CFO. He recently joined the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs.

Prior to joining Apple, Maestri was CFO at both Nokia Siemens Networks and Xerox. Since joining Apple in March 2013, he has managed most of Apple’s financial functions and done an excellent job leading them, while also working closely with Apple’s senior leadership. He began his career with General Motors and spent 20 years in finance and operating roles in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe.

He has a broad international background, with time spent living and working in Italy, Poland, Ireland, Switzerland, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil and Germany, as well as the U.S.

Kony
Kony, has appointed Thomas E. Hogan as chief executive officer. In his new role, Hogan will help Kony further capitalize on the huge opportunity presented by the rapidly growing mobile applications market. This will include applying his proven expertise in the enterprise software market to drive sales execution, operational excellence, product leadership, and geographical expansion.

“With more than 900% growth during the last three years, hundreds of enterprise customers and 20 million mobile app users ever day, Kony is uniquely positioned in the enterprise mobility market,” said Raj Koneru, founder and chairman, Kony. “To capitalize on the opportunity presented by the explosive global growth in the mobility market, it was time to bring in a new CEO and Tom clearly has the proven operational experience to help scale the company and take Kony to the next level. His proven experience with some of the world’s largest and most successful enterprise software companies will be a huge asset.”

Before joining Kony, Hogan served as executive vice president of Software at HP, with responsibility for all software functions, including sales, marketing, engineering, product development, operations and technical support. Prior to joining HP, Hogan served as the president and chief executive officer of Vignette, a publicly held software company specializing in enterprise content management. He also held key leadership roles at Siebel Software, where he helped quadrupled total revenues as senior vice president of global sales and operations, and IBM, where he started his career and held a variety of executive posts.

“It is a honor to succeed Raj Koneru as chief executive officer of one of the most innovative companies in the enterprise mobility market,” said Hogan. “Raj and team have created an enormously successful company. Working together we will build on Kony’s success and momentum, and most importantly, will help organizations around the globe better leverage the power and impact of mobile applications."

Kony provides an end-to-end, integrated, cloud-based platform to support an application software development lifecycle (SDLC) that empowers enterprises to quickly define, design, build, test, deploy and manage multi-channel application experiences. The company’s customers include Fortune 1000 global banks, healthcare payers and providers, automotive, manufacturing, travel, hospitality and retail organizations, as well as a large global network of more than 150 partners.

KPMG
KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm, has completed the acquisition of Cynergy Systems, Inc., to help businesses capitalize on the transformative opportunities provided by digital and mobile technologies.

“Digital and mobile technologies are transforming the way we live and work. We see this in every sector of the economy, and it will only grow in importance in the years ahead,” said John B. Veihmeyer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KPMG LLP. “By adding Cynergy’s leading-edge mobile and digital capabilities to KPMG’s depth in helping clients solve their biggest operational and technology challenges, we are fully prepared to help clients re-imagine how they deliver services to customers, employees and other stakeholders.”

“This acquisition advances our capabilities to help businesses integrate digital and mobile technologies across their enterprises. We see tremendous opportunities to help our clients unlock new business models, increase revenue and make their enterprises more efficient,” Veihmeyer said. “We’re also excited to enhance KPMG’s broad approach to business integration services, which already includes strategy, process and technology enablement, data and analytics, change management, security, risk and controls and tax services.”

Cynergy, headquartered in Baltimore with offices in Seattle, San Diego, Grand Rapids, Mich., Phoenix, Houston, Detroit, Rochester, N.Y., and Washington, is a mobility services business and a digital experience company specializing in strategy, design and development across mobile, web and desktop.

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